In a blink, night had fallen. The darkness engulfed them and covered the aftermath of their battle like the scene had finished. Yet he remained there. The cubs remained there. And the corpse of their mother didn't move.

There weren't cheers and claps to celebrate his victory, only a deafening silence.

How was he still alive?

He was by all means defeated. The creature he was fighting had sacrificed its own child in order to strike him down. It had outsmarted him.

His plan failed. His current injuries were proof of that. His muscles screamed as he lifted his head in order to assess the damage; from the lower side of his left hip up to his chest were three deep-red gashes oozing blood. That didn't look good.

'This body should be able to handle that, right?... I hope.'

That wasn't the only thing. His left leg was twisted at an odd angle, clearly broken. Damn. He had gone overboard, apparently.

He felt light-headed. At least it didn't hurt that much. Why didn't it, though? Shock? Adrenaline? Another reason completely?

Did it matter?

The subtle noise of leaves rustling took his attention, cutting right through the silence. He realized he was out in the open. He painfully turned his head to look in the direction where the sound was coming from, but there was nothing as far as he could see.

He stared for a few seconds longer before he exhaled a heavy breath. He needed to get out of here and go back to the cave. Who knew what could happen to him if he passed out right in the middle of this wasted part of the forest? The area surrounding him was destroyed by the enraged superbear, with fallen logs, branches and debris scattered around the perimeter. He would be way too vulnerable to the elements and other creatures that might want to take advantage of his kill.

'I need to stand up,' he decided, giving his muscles a small test to confirm their condition, but recoiling immediately at the pain that kicked back. Not good. He tried once more, doing his best to ignore the agony until his vision turned white and he fell down. He gasped for air. Seconds stretched into excruciating hours of nothing but suffering. Eventually, the pain receded to a point where he was able to think again.

If he was incapable of standing up on his own, he had to find something that could help him. He scanned the vicinity, making sure the corpse and the cubs were still there and found what he was looking for. A tree stump.

He took a few deep breaths to prepare himself for what was coming.

'Okay, on the count of three,' he said with a grimace, visualizing what he wanted to do while being aware of the imminent pain it would bring, 'One… two… and…!'

He groaned and twisted his body, landing face-first into the dirt. He wiped his brow. First step down. He began to drag himself towards the stump, slowly. A few seconds into this, he wailed. Some jagged rocks dug right into the open wound in his torso. He clenched his teeth. Of course, it wouldn't be easy. That was too much to ask. He pushed himself off and continued, keeping his stomach and chest hovering slightly above the ground.

His arms trembled and sweat and blood mixed and flowed into the cracks left by the mother bear's ferocious attacks. It had been relentless in its onslaught if their battlefield was any tell. However, given the creature's size, he had expected something stronger. If he compared it to the bear he fought first, they were almost at the same level. He couldn't see neither of their attacks, but his body was able to react to them. Well, to most of them.

However, the mother bear's last attack against him was on another level completely. He hadn't seen it move at all. One instant he is about to land the winning blow, on the other he's flying through the air at impressive speeds. Why didn't it attack like that from the very beginning? Why did it hold back so much power?

He clenched his teeth. This was not the time to think about that. He needed to leave. It was getting colder and colder with each passing second, but sure enough, the stump was getting closer as well.

Finally, he reached his destination. Even though the tree stump was only a couple of feet away from him, the journey felt like hours had gone by. Awfully long hours. He didn't know how long it really took him, and he didn't care either.

Grabbing the sides of the stump, he lifted his body off the ground with great effort, veins bulging quite prominently on his arms. He distributed the majority of his weight on his working leg and managed to find a balance. Step two succeeded. He saw movement from the corner of his eyes and he quickly glanced in that direction. Nothing but splinters and rocks greeted him. Fuck. He had to leave. However, as he looked around, his uncertainty grew. He didn't know what direction to take. The bear had destroyed the markings he left in order to indicate which way to go.

'What a disaster.'

He looked up, but there was no sunlight remaining and he didn't remember where exactly the sun had set. His vision was getting blurry.

He shook his head to focus. There was no much time left. He gave one last look around to see if he found anything that could help him remember… his eyes landed on something.

A decent-sized opening in the ground. Their den. A new plan formed in his head. Could he use it?

'No, get a hold of yourself. It won't work. You might as well fall asleep right here. Besides,' he scrunched up his nose, 'the corpse will no doubt attract predators. I can't stay here. I'm in no shape to defend myself.' Images of another bear or one of the giant wolves suddenly appearing flashed in his head and he gulped. Fuck off.

At that moment he remembered something and a faint glimmer of light made his amethyst orbs glint. Their den's placement. When he encountered the bear, it kept it hidden behind itself.

He immersed in his memories as strongly as possible, trying to discern the burrow's form and position from the glances he took of it during the fight. He remembered the curious, shining eyes of the cub that stared at him.

'So, that way?' he turned to the direction that seemed to fit what he remembered the most. At least he had a direction. If this path led to the cave or not, that was a bet he was willing to take.

He had to go.

He stumbled as he took the first step, but managed to catch himself before he lost his footing completely. Another one. Sharp pain shot up from his broken leg as he landed. He bit his tongue. One more step.

He didn't want to die.

Curious eyes landed on him. He froze. Goddamn it.

'No, don't even think about it.'

Innocent children, which were thrown mercilessly against an unforgiving world. They were not at fault. It was nobody's fault. Just how the world worked. It hadn't changed. He was dumb to think it was any different back on Earth... his perception was getting distorted by his emotions.

'You can barely keep yourself alive, don't think about it.'

A pair of playful brown eyes looked up to him, filled to the brim with eagerness and energy. He didn't understand at first. Now, he was sure. He failed to live to the image that was reflected in those eyes. Time and time again, he failed to meet their expectation. Time and time again, the world did as well. Until their once warm visage turned callous. Until their spark was snuffed out.

'This and that are two different things! Don't do this to yourself, I swear-'

Until they understood what life was about.

'That's wrong. That's not it. How can I explain it to you? What words do I have to use to help you understand? What should I say? To help you see… that there's more… to this world… but I did my best and it wasn't enough. I failed as a teacher- no, I failed as the person that I want to be.'

What would Alexander Pierce do in this situation?

A low growl made him halt. One of the cubs stared at him, sitting on top of its mother's corpse. It showed him its teeth as it stood. He sighed, 'This better work.'

He continued to limp towards the carcass and the cub jumped down, landing between him and its mother. It began to circle him. Watching it from such a short distance and without having to evade deadly hits every second, he realized it was crazy that it was still a baby. On all fours, it was still a couple of heads taller than he was. If this didn't work and he had to face two of these, or even just one, it would be incredibly troublesome. Onto the plan.

Attempt number one.

"Stop," he said with a little more difficulty than expected. The bear answered with an aggressive growl and continued to approach.

Okay, that was a fail. Attempt number two.

"Stop!" he said, this time louder and clearer. The bear flinched and stepped back. Did it work? Or did he take it by surprise? Before he could follow up with another command, the bear leaped.

He quickly allowed the fire within him to run amok and tried to replicate what he felt when the superbear was about to finish him off. Anger. Frustration. Hopelessness. The emotions and the blaze simultaneously bubbled up in his chest. It wasn't exactly the same as before, lacking a great deal of intensity, but it was the best he could muster at the moment.

"STOP!" he yelled.

The bear stopped moving. He regarded it, quickly analyzing as much information as he could. A few seconds went by, yet the bear remained frozen. Interesting. Attempt number three was a success. It had to do with the weird sensation after all.

"Sit," he said, imitating his previous state of mind, though this time way more relaxed, letting his emotions fade out but maintaining the burn.

The bear sat down and stared at him like it was waiting for the next order.

'What the hell,' he thought, already feeling a headache incoming. What a bizarre occurrence. Right along with the whole interdimensional travelling. And the fact that he was a demon. And the existence of the gigantic bears. And his exceptional strength. And the mysterious girl-alien-weapon-thing.

He shook his head in order to clear his thoughts.

Back to the plan, this was such a stupid idea. At least his theory was correct and it would improve significantly the rate of success… in theory. He hoped it would.

The cub's sibling peeked from the side, interested in what was going on.

Alexander looked up, towards the countless stars that adorned the heavens. This is what he would do in this situation. He had taken everything from them, so it was only fair to give back a little, wasn't it?

"Let's go home."